As computer systems have become more common in the workplace and in the home, there has become a need to make these computer systems even more user friendly to enable use of computers by all sorts of people. There is also a need to allow computer systems to be set up to meet a particular user's needs.
Currently, many users of computers are visually impaired. Some are totally impaired while others are partially impaired. The partially impaired may use monitors or separate systems that magnify the screen to allow them to read the contents of the screen. Whether totally impaired or partially visually impaired there is a need for some computer users to use alternate senses as they use the computer. Error messages from various devices and the computer system generally appear on the screen as a pop-up menu. Unlike most computer users, a visually impaired user may not realize that something “out of the norm” resulting in an error message has occurred. The visually impaired user may continue to work despite the fact that the error may halt all input to the computer. Thus, there is a need for an alternative error messaging system other than the system where error messages pop up on a computer screen.
Other computer users also may need an alternate to the system where error messages pop up on the computer screen. Some users of computers are technically challenged. Some people adapt rather easily to computer technology. Other people simply do not adapt or learn easily from a system that teaches using basically the visual sense. For example, some users can not figure out the most user-friendly, intuitive graphical user interface. They stare at the screen wondering what to do next. The next person, who may be a good visual learner, intuitively knows how to use the same user-friendly graphical user interface. One area of extreme frustration for even sophisticated users, much less the technically challenged users, is the area of error messages. Many times the error message seemingly has little relation to the problem. A simple example is the error message “nonsystem disk error.” Most of the time this means the user had a floppy disk without a bootup program in the floppy drive bay. The fix for the error usually is to remove the floppy and press another key. The technically challenged user or one that is not a gifted visual learner that can not figure out the simplest graphical user interface generally will be extremely frustrated by an error message that pops up on the computer screen. Thus, there is also a need for an alternative to pop-up error messages for those that are not good visual learners or for the technically challenged users.
Therefore, there is a need for apparatus and method for providing an alternate output to error messages which merely pop-up on the screen of a computer monitor.